


A Thousand Words

by Kaunis_Sielu



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-11 23:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12946032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaunis_Sielu/pseuds/Kaunis_Sielu





	1. Chapter 1

When the invasion started most people fled from the attack. You didn’t have that luxury. As a newspaper photographer it’s your job to get the news on film. Well, not exactly film anymore since you’ve gone digital but either way you’ve got a job to do. You’ve thrown on your bulletproof vest and military helmet from your time overseas and head out into the streets.   
It’s chaos.   
The closer you get to Stark Tower the crazier it gets. You duck as Iron Man flies over your head and most of the aliens firing at him miss and hit the ground, cars and buildings.   
You get some shots of people fleeing, the police protecting people. The military is doing their best to defend against the aliens but they’re outnumbered. You keep taking pictures as you move down the street. The air is thick with dust and smoke, you crouch down to try to get a better shot of the destruction up the road. It’s then you see the action on the bridge a block over.   
There’s three of them, none of them in military gear but at least one is using a gun. Possibly two. You move as quickly as you can in a war zone, which isn’t nearly as quickly as you’d like. When you get there you’re surprised to see two men and a woman.  
One of the men is in black and is shooting, incredibly, with a bow and arrows. The woman is also in black is the one using the guns.  
The third man holds the most interest for you, you can’t see his whole face because of the blue helmet with a silver A on it. The mask portion of the helmet covers his face to his cheekbones only leaving openings for his eyes. The rest of his, uniform? Is blue with red and white stripes along his torso and a large white star on his chest. He’s carrying a circular shield also painted with red stripes with a silver stripe between them and a silver star surrounded by blue. You’ve never quite seen a uniform like his, not in this era.  
You’re so enraptured at his uniform and getting photos of the three of them working as one unit that you don’t notice the alien coming toward you. It lets out a battle cry drawing your attention to it.   
“Shit!” You cry scrambling out of the way. Your yell has attracted attention. Not just the aliens either. As you kick out the legs of one of the aliens you see the American flag dressed man is sprinting toward you. You’ve just got to hold off the aliens for a few more seconds.   
Sure enough he takes out the two aliens quickly, his shield lodges into the ground in front of you as he attacks. You’re ducked behind it, camera lens peeking over the top edge. You’re firing blindly, not willing to risk your neck but also not willing to completely miss a shot.   
“Ma'am?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Ma'am?” You laugh staring up at him, god he’s got to be just gorgeous under that mask cuz what you’re seeing now is attractive. “Thanks for the rescue, uh star guy?”   
“Captain America.” He says with a smile as he reaches a hand down for you. “Where’s the rest of your unit Solider?” He asks gruffly as he easily pulls his shield out of the ground at your feet. His face is dirty where it’s uncovered, making him all the more handsome.   
“Uh. I’m not military.” You tell him aiming your camera to your side and taking several pictures.   
“Then what are you doing out here?” He demands catching your arm. He pulls you toward him and blocks a few shots from the aliens with his shield.   
“I’m doing my job.” You tell him peering around him to get a few shots of his teammates. “What the hell is that?” You ask as a huge green blur goes flying by.   
“That would be the Hulk. He’s on our side.”  
“Whose our?”  
“The Avengers.” You blink up at him your eyebrows raised and mouth open in bewilderment.   
“Who are the Avengers?” You ask just before there’s another explosion and Captain America yanks you to the wall and behind a pillar.   
“Stay.” He says before running back into the chaos of battle.   
“Right.” You huff before taking a few pictures of him running back into the fray. You want to get some pictures of this, Hulk, before the battle is over. His green skin will look incredible against the grey of the city.   
You hear a loud yell, or maybe it counts as a roar, but either way you’ve got a gut feeling that’s what a Hulk sounds like. So disregarding Captain America’s order to ‘stay’ you take off toward the noise.


	3. Chapter 3

You’re ducking between two cars when you see him. Huge and green and crushing aliens like it’s his job. Which it probably is. What might actually scare you more than anything today is that compared to some of the alien attackers the Hulk actually looks small. Especially the one coming down street right at you. It’s easily two blocks long and as wide as the five lane road you’re standing on. There’s a blonde man with a red cape and silver armor standing on the creatures back. How he manages to stay on with it moving up and down like it’s swimming through the air you’re not quite sure. More of the aliens seem to be popping out of its sides, like it’s some sort of carrier. They scream as they land on buildings, it’s time to move. There are way too many of them and you’re pretty much defenseless. You slip into the building behind you then run to the right side. You want to get up a little higher to try at get a good shot of this alien carrier thing. You sprint across the street into another building then up the stairs. You get up by the window with a few other on lookers who decided not to get out of here. Their faces peering up at the destroyers coming from the sky, you take a few photos before turning your attention back to the aliens. You get off a few photos before the monster passes by the other Avenger seems to be wielding a hammer and somehow controls lightening. What even is going on? You shake your head and go to head back downstairs when the building shudders, causing you to stumble. You glance over your shoulder, “Fuck.” You cry as you take off at a dead sprint. One of the, fins, of the huge alien carrier is tearing through the side of the building. You go racing down the stairs and out the side door of the building as it starts to crumble. You’re not watching where you’re going as you try to take pictures of the building as it crumbles and you crash directly into someone. Glancing up you see one very disappointed looking Captain America staring down at you.


	4. Chapter 4

“I thought I told you to stay.” He says his arms folded.   
“That’s funny, last time I checked I was an adult who made her own decisions.”  
“I’m trying to keep you safe.” He scolds and you shoot him an annoyed look. You hear a tinny voice coming from his helmet and he sighs. “If I ask you to stay over here you’re not going to are you?”  
“Probably not.” You tell him honestly while you try to skirt him.   
“Because you need pictures?”  
“Because I’m an adult who has a job to do. Just like you.” You tell him as another set of aliens comes shooting out the side of the carrier alien. You put the camera to your eye and fire off a few shots before you’re scooped off of your feet. “What the hell!” You yelp but the Captain ignores you.   
“Hawkeye I could use some cover down here!” Captain America says as he sprints down the street, you bouncing along over his shoulder. His hands are firm on the backs of your thighs keeping you securely in place as he makes his way through the war torn streets. You’re trying to take pictures as he runs, they’ll probably be blurry but at least you can tell your boss you tried. “Stark how’s it looking up there? Is the parameter holding?” He continues hardly sounding like he’s going at a dead sprint.   
“Where exactly are we going?” You ask as Captain America turns down another street.   
“Somewhere I can keep you safe.”  
“Ugggggh!” You let out an exasperated cry.   
“At least you’ll live.” He quips as he carries you through a door and around a corner. He sets you down on the floor and steadies you when you stumble slightly.   
“Where are we?”  
“Stark Tower.”  
“How is this any safer than being on the street? This place could collapse on me.” You point out trying to get out of this tiny little room.   
“It’s reinforced, in a basement and the safest place you can be. Jarvis. Don’t let anyone leave this room until I get back.” He says stepping through the doorway. Your mouth drops open in horror just before you rush at the closing door.   
“Captain America! You can’t do this! You have to let me out!” You yell slamming your fist against the door. You can’t believe him right now, locking you in this stupid room. Protection your ass, this is kidnapping.


	5. Chapter 5

You spend your time in the little room going over your photos. Deleting the ones you don’t want to keep and trying to decide how to crop a few others. You let out an irritated groan and drop your head back against the wall you’re sitting against.   
“Jarvis?” You ask quietly, you’ve heard of the AI that Tony Stark built but you didn’t know if it would respond to you.   
“Yes Miss?”   
“What’s going on out there?”   
“The Avengers are still battling the Chitari Miss.”   
“The what?”  
“The aliens Miss.” The AI says and you’re surprised that you’ve almost been able to forget that it’s not an actual person.   
“What are the chances you’ll let me out of this room?”  
“None.” Well you had to try.   
“How long have I been trapped in here?”   
“About six minutes Miss.” The AI informs you and you let out a groan.   
“Can you at least give me somewhere that I can edit my photos?”  
“There’s a computer built into the wall.” You look over to your left and see the monitor, it’s literally part of the wall so it’s easy to see how you might have missed it.   
“Is there somewhere I can plug in the card?”  
“Left side Miss.”  
“Thank you.” You stand and make your way over to the computer when the lights dim for a second. Thinking fast you sprint to the door and sure enough it slides open, you don’t know what caused the power surge but you’re taking advantage of it. You sprint up the stairs, it’s not everyday that someone gets to see the inside of Tony Stark’s new building. You make it to the living quarters and your heart leaps into your throat. Laying there in a crater in middle of the room is a tall thin man. He has black hair and is in a black and green uniform, you take a few pictures of him before moving out onto a round patio. You see the woman in black holding a glowing sphere and looking toward the harbor. You look that way too and see Iron Man flying toward the building with something on his back. You take rapid fire photos as he zooms straight up and out of sight into the breach between worlds. Did you just get the last ever photo of Tony Stark?


	6. Chapter 6

You wait anxiously, eye to the camera focused on the opening between the two worlds. It starts to shrink and you look down at where the machine is that’s got it open. The woman is closing it with the spear. You fire off a few shots of that before looking back to the sky. You’re glad you do because just as the opening closes Iron Man comes tumbling out of it. You take pictures of him falling toward the ground and get a few of the Hulk saving him. You can’t see what happens on the ground, but you do take some wide shots of the city, the smoking rising into the sky in some areas. You feel someone’s eyes on you and glancing to your left you see the woman looking at you and talking into her wrist. You head back into the building and make your way back to the stairs.   
“Hold on.” She says from the other side of the room, “Cap wants to talk to you.”  
“Great.” You deadpan, “Last time he talked to me he locked me in a room in the basement.”  
“Yea. How did you get out of there?”  
“Power surge.” There’s a soft groan from the crater in the floor and she crosses the room quickly blocking you from the man in the crater. “Who is he?”  
“Loki. He’s the leader of this little invasion. Stay there, the rest of the team is on the way up and if I let you get hurt now Cap’d be pissed.”   
The rest of the group shows up less than five minutes later, most of them crowd around Loki but Captain America doesn’t. He comes to you first, his helmet is missing and you were right. He’s gorgeous. High cheekbones, bright blue eyes, strong eyebrows and soft brown hair that falls in a swoop to the right.   
“You okay?”  
“I’m fine. Are you?” You ask, before you know it you’re brushing dirt off of his face with a gentle thumb. You can feel his blue eyes searching your face but if you look at them you might lose what courage you’ve got left.   
“I’m okay. Stay over here okay? We’ve got one thing left to do.”  
“Okay.” You stay behind the bar like he asks and take photos of the whole group. The blonde man with the cape pokes Loki and he wakes, slowly sitting up he groans.   
“I think I’ll have that drink now.”


	7. Chapter 7

There’s no fight. Loki surrenders and some SHIELD agents come and take him away. Captain America shakes hands with a few then comes back over to you.   
“Uh, we’re going out for something called shawarma. Tony wants to try it. Would, uh would you like to come with?”   
“It would be nice to know the name of the guy I’m spending time with.”  
“Oh. Right, I’m Steve. Steve Rogers.” You stick your hand out and shake his hand.   
“Pleasure. You already know my name.” You tell him gesturing to your name badge.   
“I do.” He grins, “So do you want to come with?”  
“That sounds nice. I’ve never had shawarma before, have you?”   
“Doll I’ve never even heard of shawarma before.” He laughs before holding his hand out for yours. You take it and he leads you out of the tower.   
“Ah. Sweet freedom.” You tease and he winces.   
“I’m sorry.” He says squeezing your hand gently. “I really was just trying to keep you safe.”   
“I know. And I get it. It’s kind of sweet but I really don’t need it Steve.” You like the way his name rolls off of your tongue.   
“They were aliens!” He argues and you can’t help the laugh that escapes your lips.   
“I’ve been in combat before, I was a field photographer in the Middle East.”  
“Sounds dangerous.”  
“I’ve been chasing stories my whole life. Rather than using words to tell stories I use photos.”   
“Can I see them?”  
“The photos?”  
“Yes.”  
“After we eat. I’m dying to try this shawarma.”   
“Alright. But I want to see them after.”   
“Deal.” You tell him as the two of you round a corner. You see the red headed woman and the bow and arrow guy signing to one another. Tony Stark is still in his Iron Man suit with no helmet. The blonde one is watching the two signing and the last man has dark curly hair, he’s wearing black sweatpants and a black hoodie both with the SHIELD logo on them.   
“Whose that?”   
“I’ll introduce you to the whole team.” You nod and Steve clears his throat. “Avengers? I want to introduce you to our photographer.”   
“Hi.” You smile and wave, Tony glowers at you. “Hey, I’m not the stalkerazzi. I’m a news photo journalist. I don’t do tabloids.” The glare softens and he gives you a little nod.   
“So you know Tony Stark, this is Natasha Romanov,” he gestures to the woman who nods. “Clint Barton.” Bow and arrow guy waves, “Thor and Dr. Banner.” The blonde man and the curly haired man both nod at you in turn.   
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. And from New Yorkers everywhere. Thanks.” You say with a smile. Tony turns and heads toward the small restaurant.   
“So, shawarma?”


End file.
